Contemporary history through children's eyes
Ichiro Hariu
Four years ago. I received a letter from a Norwegian painter, to ask me about the possibility of his solo-exhibition in Japan, and the owner of Toho Gallery agreed to realize it, after investigating the enveloped photographs of his works. Thus, from the painter Reinhardt Sobye whom neither the owner nor I have ever met, even whose face we do'nt know, only paintings have been sent to Tokyo every year, and his exhibitions in Toho Gallery became already to the third time. Each time there were a lot of visitors, including people from provincial areas, and a circle of the sympathy and shock from his works spreaded steadily. I experienced after a long absence, that paintings can speak so deeply about how to be humanities and societies.
By the way, Toho Gallery schedules twice Sobye's exhibitions in this year, the first is a show of children and dolls as motives. Actually among the photographs of his works which Sobye sent me for the next show almost two years ago, there were two paintings of dolls. I understood immediately that dolls are for him allegories of the contemporary civilization, but I explained some worry about them, remembering Japanese painters who could not endure to pursue human figures, so escaped to dolls in their late ages. Obviously unsatisfied with my comment, Sobye wrote me that his doll paintings have good reputation as his new repertories in Norway, purchased by museums and awarded by audience's vote. At last the owner of Toho Gallery, looking at new photos of his works in last summer, proposed to have twice his exhibitions in 1997, the one by dolls and children, the other by portraits and landscapes.
Furthermore, investigated his already arrived works, my worry and anxiety has been swept away. All dolls here are symbols of children's destinies, and it is completely by the responsibilities of adults people who have surrendered themselves to the principal supremacy of development of the economic growth, that todays children are suffering ill-treatments. Japan's characteristic bullies, prostitutions, taking out of internal organs, HIV and other civilization-diseases. Concentrated suffering all contradictions of the civilization on their tender faces and bodies, children don't lose their sacredness related with God, angels. Buddha even in their agonies. Accordingly, although knowing these facts, adults pretend to forget them turning away their eyes, do'nt gaze the circumstances exactly. To gaze directly, memorize, remember, document everything is important. This is why Sobye titled this exhibition "amnesia".
Looking at these painting, I imagined contemporary history as viewed through children's eyes. In Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda too, in the silence of children who suffered agonies or died as victims, there must be the most fundamental and sharp prosecutions against the contemporary world. We can not endure at all also against children's questions of Iranian or Vietnamese refugees who came to work to Japan. If contemporary diseases concentrates to children, artists should undertake these diseases willingly, to search ways for cure and rescure. Sobye tries to penetrate into inner darkness of children, through ghost-like floating faces and the upper half of bodies on dark backgrounds. As that result, it will be suggested, that there are no more individual rescue, but the axis of total society must be transformed from money's almighty to human dignity and meaning to live. The owner of the gallery murmured as follows. "Since such wonderful works has been sent, we must make fine catalogue of this time too at our expense". This is his first expression received deep shock from these paintings.